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TEHRAN, Nov 28_Measles has killed more than 5,000 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since January, more than double the toll in the country's Ebola epidemic, the World Health Organization says.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club(YJC)_"The DRC (measles) outbreak is the largest outbreak worldwide. It is one of the largest that we have seen," Kate O'Brien, the director of the WHO's immunization department, told reporters in Geneva.
As of November 17, the country had registered 250,270 measles cases, including 5,110 deaths, the WHO said.
DRC declared its latest measles epidemic in June, and in September, the country launched an emergency vaccination campaign to counter the outbreak.
WHO said that campaign was still ongoing, but was expected to be completed by the end of the year.
O'Brien said the epidemic was still "all over the country," pointing out that most of those affected were "children and babies."
Measles is a highly-contagious disease caused by a virus that attacks mainly children. The most serious complications include blindness, brain swelling, diarrhea, and severe respiratory infections.
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